Overview
- State media released images showing Kim Ju Ae accompanying her father on her first visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang.
- The mausoleum houses the embalmed bodies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, a focal site for the regime’s legitimacy rituals.
- The outing follows North Korean media’s 2024 use of the honorific “hyangdo” for Kim Ju Ae, a title typically reserved for a leader or designated heir.
- South Korean intelligence has assessed that she could eventually succeed Kim Jong Un, reading such appearances as succession signals.
- Her age and personal details remain unconfirmed, with public sightings beginning in 2022 after a 2013 mention by former NBA player Dennis Rodman.